001then foreign I'm good okay hello and welcome to the Apple Corner mix School Bus District Board of Education Workshop tonight we're here to talk about running for school board um we're going to start our meeting with the way we start every meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice forever um there was no executive session before this meeting so we are just starting right now um the way that we have tonight set up is there is a series of slides that I'm going to go over as the facilitator to talk about running for school board the expectations of the role both for um our candidates and for anybody who's joining us tonight or via zoom and then following the slide presentation
002we have some questions to ask both of the candidates and each of you will be given two minutes to respond to the questions um we ask that you respect the time frame Mr forson will be keeping time and I think time might be kept behind me as well um I think that's about it so we'll get right into the slide presentation and I'm Michelle wall all right can oh I hate to say it next slide I'll never have that job um so we have a school board election coming up it will be held on Tuesday May the 9th voting will take place at seven in the morning until eight at night and it will be at these following locations Bunker Hill Elementary School Olive B loss Elementary the Marion profit Training Center Old State Elementary
003Townsend Elementary A.G Waters Middle School and tonight we're here to meet the candidates who are running for school board Mr Timothy Johns and Mr Raymond just making sure um next slide please the applicant School Board the vision statement is the vision of the abacoota school district is to provide a world-class education so that our students will contribute as leaders in a global Society the mission statement is the mission of the abacconomic school district is to create an educational system where each student is engaged supported and successful and again we're reviewing these things not only for the candidates but for our community as you think about these elections next slide it goes over the core values always do what is best for every student hold an expectation of excellent in a world-class education that we provide
004work to inspire trust in our stakeholders communicate with transparency act in a fiscally responsible way Foster leadership at every level actively engage our community recognize others for their contributions to success and cultivate mutual respect for everyone our district motto is the world is our campus and you can see that in the logo at the bottom of the slides it's literally we see ourselves holding that little apple at this world um and that's our district as a whole I always tell people that graduate this is not on the slide but the graduation is my favorite day because it's when the motto truly becomes the embodiment of our students so when they cross that stage they are making the world is now their campus um the district Beach which include our instruction model is engagement collaboration well
005I'm sorry collaboration creativity critical thinking and communication they all equal engagement and that's what we try to model all of our instruction around now moving on to school board qualifications to run for the school board you need to be a citizen of the United States and you must live in this District you must be 18 years old at the time of the election you must live in the nominating District which he or she is a candidate that does not apply in the applicant School District because we are a five-person at-large board so we represent the district in its entirety you cannot be a paid employee of the school district subject to the rules and regulations of the board and you must have never been convicted of embezzlement um you're required a criminal background check and
006Child Protection registry check those are just the qualifications the next section we move into is campaigning in schools campaigning in the public schools by a school board candidate or supporters or individual candidates is prohibited no board candidate May request that students or employees contribute or work for their re-election or election posting and distributing campaign materials the board prohibits the posting and distribution of campaign materials associated with School Board elections on District property with the following exceptions campaign signs may be posted at school buildings after 5 PM the night before the election signs are required to be at least 50 yards from the voting locations signs that are in place on school property in advance of that will be removed and as in the past our custodians have notified candidates we've collected some of your signs
007um for pickup or sometimes they do get thrown away if they're put there um campaign materials and signs outside of the school district grounds is up for you to follow the Department of Elections um rules and regulations um the posting and distributing of campaign materials campaign materials may be posted and distributed in a school rented for a campaign meeting or being used and an all candidate Forum such materials may not be posted until after the school day has ended and must be removed at the end of the meeting they may be used in classroom as teaching AIDS only if it is a non-partisan lesson or discussion where you are equitably representing both sides um and then like I had just stated municipalities have their own rules regarding signage including size and placement you can find
008that information at the Department of Elections so what does the school board do our community Alexis School Board of five trustees to oversee the local school district and make certain that the desires of the community are met school board members in Delaware are now elected to a four-year term it doesn't say this right here on this slide but I will remind everyone tuning in school board is a volunteer role and you do not receive compensation for your volunteer role the primary responsibilities of a board member is to set the vision and the goals for the district to adopt policies that give the district direction to set priorities and achieve its goals to hire and evaluate the superintendent to adopt and oversee the annual budget and to manage the collective bargaining process for the employees of
009the district an effective School Board member plays an important role in keeping your local schools on track setting policies that affect your children in your school the school board sets the vision and the goals for the school district and holds the district accountable for results effective school board members contribute their unique talents while collaborating collaborating and working as a team with other board members we set a Clear Vision for the district we communicate these actions to the community we work as a team we adopt fiscally sound District budget we focus on what is best for all students we Advocate at the local and state level for public education and most importantly the primary goal of the Board of Education especially here in the app economic school district is the success of all students so that
010was really fast and really quick um but those are the primary goals of what the role is of a school board member some of the rules and regulations for running for school board and information about the um upcoming election our next board meeting is Tuesday April 4th we usually meet the second Tuesday of the month but um because of the spring break holiday we'll be meeting the first Tuesday in April it'll be seven o'clock in this boardroom at that time all of our candidates will be asked to share um three minutes about why you are running for school board so you'll be able to address those here in the room and those joining us on Zoom and then the next slide I think is just a reminder of when the election is and where voting
011polling places are going to move into the question portion of the evening unless you guys have any questions as candidates about what was just went over no good okay um for the question portion of the evening we did not receive any questions oh you have questions questions we have a couple questions from the community and then the board has a couple questions to ask and like I said um I will alternate between the two of you when before you answer the first question if you just want to introduce yourselves briefly that's um fine I'll yield the floor to you just to say kind of who you are and so you can identify yourself for those who are here and those who are tuning in and then we'll roll into questions I'll start with a couple
012and then see if anybody else from the board has some that move to the community questions so if you would like to just go ahead okay thank you okay real estate company here at the general contracting business here in the school district I coach MLG Little League coach YMCA basketball I see the mic you guys have Mike's next to you for just so when you're talking they can hear you on Zoom because people can hear you in the room but they can't hear out there thanks okay well my my first question for both of you was um well how long have you lived in the district and I'll combine it with my second question and have you served in a volunteer role before in the school district so Tim if you want to go first
013yes I have lived in the district for 11 years I've worked in Delaware for 20. and as far as Volunteers in the in the school district itself know but in little league YMCA and other Civic organizations okay Mr forson do you have a question your mic needs to be turned on um Mike I can't reach it so I guess my first question would be um you know I think well first let me just say I'm going to Miss Kelly and uh she's done a great job and I hate change but such is life it happens and and um so we all bring different things to the school board that are on the school board and what one thing so you're limited to one thing do you think is the most important thing that you will
014bring to the school board the one thing I'd like to bring is a conduit of transparency because I work with families on a day-to-day basis and being a part of the school board I'll have the ability to see both sides of that coin I deal with families on a regular basis that ask me questions about the school district and I'm involved in some activities I think the ability to say I know what you heard but let me help you understand the facts behind that situation okay having a familiarity of what teachers go through and the needs of students will play a significant role in me being effective as a board member okay all right are we just gonna you want to keep asking questions so why don't we just keep we're going around let me
015go around to Kelly too I want to be next okay um okay here's my question and you can take a second to think about it what three books made the young biggest impression on you in your teens and early 20s that would help form what kind of board member you might be Mr Jones you can go first but you can take a minute well you know the idea is what what resources what textbooks what novels what are the things that kind of made a huge impression on you in your teens and your late 20 in your early 20s that kind of made you into who you are today that would affect who what kind of board member you you would be it's loaded I know but I loved reading Curious George because at heart I'm
016a dreamer in it in an adventurer I I think that you could accomplish anything uh by uh thinking and putting effort to what you believe and I think that has been uh uh a Mainstay in my development as a child and even as a young adult three books uh first when we're talking about a young adult would be it was a book called My Side of the Mountain and it was a book that was um in in the battle of the books uh thing that I was participating in you know in school and so it was a story about a young a young boy and I related to it because I grew up on a farm um who went out into the woods and he lived in solitude he lived in a carved out tree
017and it was a book of self-discovery and um you know that was it was really something that just it drew me in because I lived on a farm as the last of five children and I was the youngest by far and I lived alone on a 28 property with my two parents who were you know at that time senior citizens so that really um it just it spoke to me um another book would be How to Win Friends and Influence People um what really stood out to me in that book was that there's two sides to every story and every time you talk to somebody although you may not agree with them you have to understand that at their heart they're truly doing what they think is the best decision given the circumstances at hand
018although it may be in disagreement with you they're doing their best and they're putting their best foot forward and the um the third book it's a it's a book I found at a flea market and it was just I don't know why the coverage remained and it was how to get whatever you want I don't know if it's a book you've got some nons there but the first chapter of the book was about this most powerful word that you could ever learn and that word was asked ask for what you want I'm asking for what I want today the next was to understand that the answer to that question may be no and the next most powerful question in the English language is why why won't you give me what I want and then it's
019a book that systemically takes you through the series of understanding that just because you want something doesn't mean you'll get it but the first step to getting it is asking for it and to be prepared for no in everything you do and to take the steps necessary to ultimately you achieve the goal that you set out to achieve together thank you Mr Witt um so one welcome and thank you for growing on your family last two years so I know we used to do it um can you give me three comments and three pros of what you feel about the Oklahoma school district family I love this District because of family we lost our dog a few years ago and it was traumatic I mean actually one dog died and so we got another dog
020and one day the uh the kids let the dog out and he just took a joyride into the whole development but our community is so fam Apple mot I'll say mot is so family oriented we were knocking on doors and my neighbor put the blast out on the mot page and somebody picked our dog up was about to take it to the vet to get his shots it just I mean it just breathes a family what my children was second thing my children was Emma I raised all four of my children up in the school district and one of the things I loved about mot was how the teachers were very responsive and they called if any problem existed with our children at all the phone would ring and it was just a family atmosphere
021I'm a family guy so that was a big thing for me um um so I guess some of the things I didn't like was all people are not good people and and being an African-American in this District I've experienced some some not so good things in the school district with parents in the school district and it wasn't comfortable and so you know it just it didn't make me feel any uh negative to the district overall but that's just the way it goes with life you come and count you have encounters with different people different issues whether it's race or anything like that so that was a little unpleasant uh I didn't like how you asked that's it okay all right yeah it was just let's quick all right sure the three things I feel that
022the if we had to say the three most positive and the three most negative things about our school district are probably the same three things it's um it's the size of the district it's the the newness of the district and I don't mean to say that the school district hasn't been around but when I look up at the list of schools up there um I think we can agree that there's a lot of new schools and then also our diversity um in the size it's it's hard to manage how do you manage something that grows on a daily basis but in that size comes a collective voice of a lot of new conversations um in our diversity diversity is familiarity it's it's things that we want to stick to but it's also the exposure to
023new and exciting things if you allow yourself that opportunity and besides the newness and the diversity those are the three biggest things that we need to celebrate and at the same time keep our eye on to make sure that we're maintaining them in a proper manner um what will you do um it fought from the board on how to contribute and how can we fix it make it better what idea do you have I'm a firm believer that you have to become the change you want to see I think everybody is responsible for being the example and I think we only have really personal responsibility of being good good stewards over ourselves I think it begins with us as individuals and so you know on the board I would just be my authentic self be
024who I am supposed to be and that will speak for itself that will influence the masses I believe it works that way authenticity is the key I bring an adventurous Spirit and the desire to seek first then understand so to say what would you do differently the first thing I need to understand is what it feels like to sit in that chair what it feels like to have a parent come at you with a concern that they have that's very personal to them that you have no involvement in um what it feels like to be a teacher that teaches in a class every day because I'm not a teacher I never was I'm a coach I can tell you what that feels like um but to seek the information of what I need to know
025and to learn how to properly Be an Effective member of the school board would be the first thing that I would do and ultimately be the most effective because once you've sat in someone's chair or walked in someone's shoes then you can properly understand the guidance that you can give uh just the other night unfortunately showed up a little bit late because I was with clients and but I came in and I walked into the conversation around Security in the high schools and and what was being done so that was the last event I attended same as me same as well last school board finished it's pretty straightforward if either of you participate in any District committees have you attended any school functions have you participated in any realm of a PTA PTO or have
026any general understanding of how the schools operate in the state of Delaware I have not personally participated in the committee now yeah do you have any idea on understanding how the education system worked in the state of Delaware I'm learning about what's uh that's how the system runs I wouldn't say I have a full understanding of that didn't know you um I I participated as you know at the school um like the field day you know things things like that but as far as an administrative level now and it's an active role in the PTA PTO anything like that that's correct thank you Mr forson did you have follow-up questions um so there's lots of interesting public perceptions about what school board members can and can't do I mean we're all just one of five
027and I wish we could wave a magic wander if I got a call from a parent I could make that problem go away like that we can't always do that but we can help but let me turn it around and I'm going to ask each of you if you could ask a question of us not that we're going to give you an answer but if you could ask one question of the school board uh and and the role you're now seeking what would that question be so I think I started with Tim last time so I'll start with Ray this time the question I would ask is if you had a magic wand and you could Implement one measure or level of change what would it be sitting in that chair all right sir what
028question would you ask us what do you believe would be would make up a successful board member all right they're both good questions I'll try to answer them real quick a successful board member is somebody who cares is diligent and will give it their all and I think we can all agree on that we may not always agree on what the best outcome is but we're all going to work hard together and pull in the same direction and I will say that I think that all five school board members now and all the board members I've ever served with their heart has always been in the right place and for me more than anything else so someone's heart's in the right place then you know then I can work with them and and we can
029all get along and do well if I could wave a magic wand and what would I do I'd make I don't know what I would do there's lots of options there but I think I would uh wave my magic wand and everybody would be an A plus student and we'd be living in Lake Wobegon where all the students are above average um okay that's my little Spiel but I'm not running you just add to your answer a little bit I think that it's our board has always been an example of a cohesive board in the state of Delaware that's true we come from different points of view as Richard said different experiences there but there's always been a mutual respect and that would be what I would be looking for someone to continue to contribute
030to add like you might not have the same point of view but because you sit here with me I value you and I'm going to listen to your point of view and we're going to learn to work together because just like Richard said you're not elected to this role as a single state representative or a state senator you're one of five and the and you move forward as 105. so that's important to know when you're when you're making a decision as a collective group and I will say like any volunteer role you get out of it what you put into it it's not I know we always say school board meetings are the second Tuesday of the month but that is not what we are always on together and that is not our commitment this
031is a a 40 hour a week plus sometimes volunteer role so it's just I don't want anyone to not know what goes into it and like Richard said it's about the heart I mean we're here for kids um and that needs to be the I think going forward of anybody um what's best for kids because you'll hear from this group and you'll hear from this group and you hear from this group you can hear from this group but you always have to come back and say okay but what's best for kids so um let's see I have a question okay I'm sorry Norm did you want to go okay so to your first question was if there was a magic wand what would I change or what would I do with it um my magic
032wand would be to um create a more Diversified um board um and thought I find that um most times I'm the only voice that feels the way that I feel so having someone who can be on the board and help gauge the um the voice that um looks more like me so that will be my magic wand um decision or option or feedback and for you is just always remembering that the kids are first like when I go to bed when I wake up I think about who who am I here I have three children but outside of my three children I'm here for the other children other children and of all you know raise color gender need special need whatever that is um I am here for all children at the end of the
033day and that's what keeps me here and that's why I decided to run I'd like to challenge that um saying that you'd prefer to have someone who looks like you know Mr Abrams you have something to add anything I'd like to add is we all come from different places if you're successful in this position you're going to come to a board meeting five days prior to that somebody's going to be presenting something to you and you're going to look at that and say there's absolutely no way we can do that it's against everything I believe in so you have to have an open mind to sit there and understand that the people in this back row this gentleman sitting to my right have you know they're very person what they do you have to have
034a new mind to listen and you have to be able to sit there and put your own personal feelings off this table listen to what's presented to you and then is that in the best decision for the district and the students not for you not for how you believe not for what you go home tolerate it's what is in the best interest for this District I've been here 14 years a lot of people have come through here that is probably one of the hardest things somebody has to understand you have to put your personal feelings away and do what is best what you believe is best with the students of this district and there's enough talent in this District that will help you coach you get you to where you need to be if you
035have a million questions this gentleman here will answer them eight hours every day and so everybody else in this District they're here for you to help make you the best board member but you cannot have a Personal Agenda in any ideological belief you have to make sure your decisions are the best for the students Dr Burris did you say we had Community questions and then I'll Circle back if the board has follow-ups the first one is from Julia santine um with the uptick of safety matters in our school and in our community what are your thoughts and feelings on how you would keep children and staff safe I don't remember who in person um right Tim Dr John was my first last time sorry for Europe I think I think just understand the question it's
036what measures do I feel it should be put in place to keep students and teachers safe I think it starts in the hallway and in the bathrooms in in schools I think a lot of the issues that we see that come to be a newspaper headline I think had that been detected in the hallway or the conversation or in the in the school bathroom in a conversation it's really a matter of keeping your ear to the ground and understanding that a tree just doesn't bear fruit overnight it's based on a seed that was planted long ago I think we need to have more collaboration with the local police and the school district and the schools I think if we do that there there are things that the police know that the teachers don't know and
037there are things that teachers know that the school doesn't know so we work together with more of a comprehensive plan to to be able to see what's coming what dangers are Eliza ahead we could plan effectively to prevent a lot of things that are occurring obviously our district is growing at a phenomenal rate which is also with with that growth comes uh all types of challenges when it comes to safety and so um I think a collaborative effort with the police department and the principles of every school would work uh I was just talking with a police officer about I I serve as the chaplain of the state prison of smyrna's prison and we were coming up with a concept to interview some inmates uh to get video out there to high schools to show
038kids what could happen if you go the wrong way so ideas like that fresh approaches like that thank you is there these next two questions come from Gary Shull um and I think you answered the second one with uh Michelle's question on do you have specific suggestions for improvement regarding upcoming School District that I feel that you guys answered that question the final question I have is what is your position on diversity equity and inclusion Dei and how we'll guide your decision making regarding the the upcoming School District my position is uh I support Equity over equality I believe that every child's need to be able to be met I think we should strive to meet the needs of every child just despite what level of academic performance they're at so we have to be
039flexible to understand that everybody learns at different paces and provide solutions for each level that the child is on thank you diversity equity and inclusion is there another way we need to celebrate each other's diversity that's that's what's the foundation of this country is the the immigrants that came through Ellis Island my my grandparents were one of them I charted our family history back to where my grandfather signed in and at Ellis Island and his name was changed to the name that I carried today because it was easier for them to spell um when I look back at my family history was changed as a second generation American because equity and inclusion was was not there then it was just easier to say you know what this is what your name looks like here you
040go Mr pet kevis not Mr piccivichis which is what it was when we came from Lithuania so the the ability for um a power if you would to change the dynamic in structure and path of a family um that's not that's not the job or the role of an Administration uh the job and role of an Administration is to celebrate our differences while at the same time making sure that collectively we move forward to a better future thank you that's all the questions that we received are there additional questions from the board I I have one okay um do you feel that representation matters why or why not and what do you think that looks like in our schools from the student body up through the staff I think we start here could I have
041a little more clarity representation in what regard um that the makeup diversity wise um of the the students in our in our district should match the teachers the makeup of the teachers who are teach educating them and the staff in the school overall the first thing I'd like to see is less substitutes so if it's a matter of being if we're fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have a pool of candidates where you can make that choice that would be excellent but after my conversation with Dr Burroughs um it seems like there's a shortage of qualified candidates to begin with so I think the first thing would be to have qualified candidates that are in a position to be hired more so than picking people for their their background I'd rather look at somebody's
042degree and their qualifications first because we don't have them in place given the amount of substitutes that are in the schools yeah can you repeat the question I think it does matter because uh overall the students need to be able to see themselves and the teachers and it matters because it it enforces a belief system in the student that they could become what they see and so if there is no representation in the in the the staff of the teachers that reflects the body of the students then you'll have some students uh thinking that uh they can't get there they need to see themselves so it does matter [Music] I we could ask questions all night I'm not going to ask any other questions but I do want to thank you both for coming and
043Michelle hit on this earlier I mean it takes a lot of Courage to run for office it takes a lot of courage to actually put your name on the ballot and ask people to vote for you and so you are to be commended for wanting to be on this side of the table some might say you're crazy for wanting to be on this side of the table my hair was not nearly this gray when I first started as a school board member but thank you both for coming tonight thank you both for running and I'll say that I've been impressed by all your answers and you're both obviously very thoughtful guys and um I think either one of you would be a welcome addition to the board but thank you for taking the time tonight
044thank you for being willing to do this and no matter what happens on that second Tuesday in May um when only one of you can be elected I thank you both for for wanting to do it and that's all I have can real quick yes okay um I just want for for the Public's um just just to clarify um one of the slides that was put up is about the locations where you can vote and I just want to make sure because we have so many people who have questions about this and people moving in all the time this is not like um a regular election in November where you have to go to a specific school or specific location only to vote at that location this is bring your ID and show up at
045any of the schools listed within those voting times um so it's not connected to your representative district or your Ed just you know have your ID show that you live in the district show up at any of those schools within those time frames and you can vote there you can only vote once that's right um I have a question uh I'll start with you if your friends were to choose three or your supporters were to choose three words to describe you what three words would they choose integrity tenacious and uh loving thank you sir well he took two of my words so you can have the same ones but you might have mutual friends I'm not sure I'm going to go from I'm not going to use my words I'm going to use words that
046have been consistently used on employee appraisals over the years um energy has always been one of those that um I have a very high level of energy I remember another one which tenacity um I remember having a conversation with someone doing a review and they wrote down raise the most tenacious individual I have ever come across and uh I said to the gentleman I said Steve you you played division one baseball um clearly you've met people more tenacious than me and he looked at me he said no no I have not um and it's commitment so when I set out to do something um I have a commitment to see it through I have a commitment to get it done right and that tenacity and that energy are what always get me to the final
047step of fulfilling that commitment thank you imagine that sitting in this role you can't be a subject matter expert in everything right so you hear about school nutrition you hear about Transportation you hear about overcrowding of classrooms you hear about teacher shortage you hear about you've coveted um you never quite know what might be coming at you here um so I'm gonna say the scenario is you have either just received a very frantic phone call from a parent in which you can barely understand about half of what they're saying in the message asking you to call them back so you call them back and tell me how that plays out and what your next steps are you can go first I've I've dealt with um situations where people I I deal with real estate um
048it's one of the biggest most stressful things that you'll ever do in your life is buy or sell a home it's certainly one of the most expensive which draws out a lot of emotions it involves uh partners and families it involves children and families so the first thing is to not match their energy if their energy is at a level where it needs to be brought down so it's you need to understand what what they're saying what the concern is but then ultimately what the concern behind the concern is because a lot of times when you're talking to someone who's upset what they're bringing to you initially is not what they're actually upset about it's like a symptom you bring a symptom to the doctor but the symptom is not what's making you sick the
049symptom is what what's the cause of it and so you really need to get behind what is going on to fully understand how you can help so it's it's listen it's de-escalate it's understand it's restate the concern make sure you truly understand it and then you can open a forum for dialogue to help one another thank you well as a man of faith I I handle conflict all the time but I'm not I may not know everything about the subject matter so I would take Dr Burrow's advice yeah because he said reach out to him so I would take the information anything I don't understand he'll be the first phone call I make he'll be the first email I make that's what I would do um let me know or can you please tell me
050what your thoughts are about HP 198 I'm unfamiliar with what that is what about you I'm not sure I understand by the code name okay so HP 198 is a bill that just passed which states that this school year 23-24 all districts in Delaware must teach African-American history the way that it happened with that being said what are you in in every career in every um in every uh course in school so whether it's gym culinary English Spanish whatever they need to implement some type of like um African-American history what are your thoughts on that since it is something that is required is not optional I would like to know your thoughts on that I would like to see us as a culture even as a country get away from black history because I believe
051it's American history I believe our culture as African-American people are in the context in American history because uh we've experienced enough racism and separation in this country to know that certain words breeds confusion and breeds you know the wrong kind of atmosphere that we want and I think we have to be sensitive to that so I I agree with teaching uh African-American history if you want to use that term using your term but I would wish that we would transition into making it American history because that's what actually is it's American history it's a part of the American story and the whole story needs to be taught not half of it just to be clear it's not or or something that pass oh I I understand I got it I got it I'm just making
052a statement to what your question was okay okay thank you yes yes I couldn't agree more um I believe that if you show me a great thing in this country there's great people behind it that build it there's great people that funded it um no matter what it is what that what that statue was what that building was it was it was the hands of Americans that built it and each one of them has a story to be told whether it's the folks that built the South during a horrible time in our in our history or you go to New York City and you look at the the guys sitting on the skyscrapers um eating lunch out of a lunch box sitting on a steel girder you know 50 stories above the city this country
053was built by Americans with American hands and each one of them has a story to be told and there are some wonderful stories and there's some horrible stories and it's only through those Collective stories that we can move everything forward thank you the question would be positioned on transgender I asked the question because once you start campaigning those are the kind of questions that people will ask you so I'll be the first one to ask what is your take on transgender when it comes to students do you think that bad things should be changed to represent a neutral student um just would you take what would you say when the question is presented phrase first when you say what's my take on transgender do you mean what involvement should the school have in it or
054yes absolutely so a football member other than I don't believe the school should should take a position in the sexuality of our children I believe that starts with the family that's a family conversation I think the school should support the family and if that conversation is being had at a family level and the family wants the schools to support that conversation then I think it's appropriate but I do not think it's appropriate for the school to start that conversation thank you I would agree I I totally agree I think it's a family matter we vote on everything in this country most of the things that need changing I think it begins with the household and uh the the families and the constituents are going to decide the next board member they're going to and shouldn't
055they decide how they want their kids to be treated in the schools they should too thank you a parent's going to come up to you and ask you the parents or the student identifies as the opposite would you allow them to use the opposite bathroom waking them into a girl girl going into a boy you're going to get asked that question gentlemen make sure you have an answer for it there's state law state rules you know what they are you're going to get asked that question so I'll ask him for you tonight I think it goes back to what you just said what is the law concerning that does the law allow for that to take place I was so I would support what the law states irregardless of my personal opinion I agree 100
056I don't feel that as an individual member of the school board that bucking the trend of the laws that have been put in place by the state of Delaware or the United States um I don't feel that that's something that should come from the chair of a school board member questions from the community I have no more questions at this time um do either of you have any questions pertaining to the actual running for the board in terms of what we outlined at the beginning of campaign policies when the board when the coming to the board meeting in April Logistics wise not at this time no okay I will commend you for coming out it is not easy to sit in the shares all of us have sat in those shares all of us have
057run races in different ways different years to get in your seats please use us as resources um whether we can say what we did that worked what we did that didn't work what we wouldn't do again what we might try um please reach out to us we all five of us agreed to be resources to anybody who wants to meet and chat about what the role consists of or how to get here um I have nothing further Dr Burris do you have anything further no just a second what uh hasn't been said takes a lot of courage to step up and to volunteer for a completely volunteer role and you got some tough questions tonight and there's a lot of tough questions like that that will be coming your way so I I very much
058appreciate both of you and your willingness to serve the kids of our community so thank you and I would just say continue to be yourself because if you're somebody else during the campaign process and you get to this seat and that you don't know who to be that's where a problem is so be yourself at the grocery store be yourself when you talk to constituents on the phone and be yourself in the seat so that's all I have for tonight thank you so much for joining us